Henry Ford

I adopted the theory of reincarnation when I was 26. I got the idea from a book by Orlando Smith. Until I discovered this theory I was unsettled and dissatisfied-without a compass, so to speak. When I discovered reincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan. I realized that there was a chance to work out my ideas. Time was no longer limited. I was no longer a slave to the hands of the clock. There was time enough to plan and to create. I wouldn’t give five cents for seeing all the world, because I feel there is nothing in the five continents and on the five seas that I have not somehow seen. Somewhere is a master mind sending brain wave messages to us. There is a Great Spirit. I never did anything by my own volition. I was pushed by invisible forces within and without me. We inherit a native knowledge from a previous existence. Gospel of reincarnation is essence of all knowledge. I do not know where we come from or go to but we accumulate experience. Someday it will be possible to measure the soul. We all retain memories of past lives.

No one loses anything by raising wages as soon as he is able. It has always paid us. Low wages are the most costly any employer can pay. It is like using low-grade material–the waste makes it very expensive in the end. There is no economy in cheap labor or cheap material. The hardest thing I ever had to do was to reduce wages. I think we were the last big company to come to it. Now I am mighty glad that wages are climbing again.

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

Music and song are, in my opinion, so fine and necessary a part of life that without them we cannot be said really to live at all.

We have had just one main purpose during these years, and that is to give the people transportation of the most dependable quality at the lowest possible cost. Our car was called the Universal Car thirty years ago, because it fulfilled so many needs; it is The Universal Car today for the same reason.

Idleness is the reason for many of our troubles.

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

When I was practicing psychology, I used to tell myself if I ever get to where I’m just doing this for the money or I’m just going through the motions, I’ll quit.

I don’t think I’ve made mistakes. Every time somebody said I made a mistake, they do the polls and my numbers go up, so I guess I haven’t made any mistakes.

There is safety in small beginnings and there is unlimited capital in the experience gained by growing.

I don’t let go of concepts – I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.

Even in the presence of others he was completely alone.

I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.

Water from the white fountain didn’t taste any better than from the black fountain.

[On leaving Brooklyn] I left the day I graduated high school.

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

All begins with you surrounding yourself with the right people—the good and authentic people—and “unsurrounding” yourself with the wrong people. And we both know there are plenty of wrong people in this world.

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

It’s just a matter of managing expectations. So for me, for example, you know, when your husband is President of the United States and you have children, something has got to give. I’ve made compromises in my life and my career, but I’ve also, in exchange, gained a wonderful platform to do some great work.

When you embark for strange places don’t leave any of yourself safely at the shore… Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.